Wikipedia

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia running on the same software as Appropedia. It was a pioneer in massive wikis, and in open knowledge.

Wikipedia has strict criteria for inclusion, in particular "notability" and "reliable sources". It is essential to remember that the importance of a topic is not the criteria that Wikipedia uses for inclusion, otherwise it would be bogged down in never-ending debates about what is important.

For more detail, see Wikipedia: Project: What Wikipedia is not.

Appropedia is for a broader range of material, and happily accepts material that Wikipedia explicitly rejects, including:

• Original research
• Project writups
• How-tos
• Essays
• Collaborations
• Networking

Many articles are deleted from Wikipedia because they are unsuitable, even if they are worthwhile content. A number of valuable pages on Appropedia have been salvaged from Wikipedia. See these notes on checking deleted content for possibly relevant content to "transwiki" here.

• A successful wiki project requires resources. Wikipedia (or rather, the Wikimedia Foundation), began with $10 million in seed funding, which was used to support the community, set directions, and develop the software. However, as this important pioneering work (including the development of MediaWiki as a proven, stable platform), more modest funding would be effective for newer projects.
• The "one big wiki" model can work. Wikis on very narrow fields of knowledge are rarely successful.

Some collaborations relevant to Appropedia's focus are:

• WikiProject International development
• WikiProject Environment
• WikiProject Energy development
• wikipedia:Wikipedia:WikiProject Mills
• WikiProject Water purification
• wikipedia:Wikipedia:Wikiproject Agriculture

• Appropedia:Appropedia is different from Wikipedia - Appropedia proposed policy
• Appropedia:What Appropedia is not
• Wikipedia articles, categories and WikiProjects - of possible interest to Appropedia users

• Wikipedia:Wikipedia - the Wikipedia article about Wikipedia